


Insert Coin to Start (the Arcade Cabinet Remix)

by EachPeachPearPlum



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (I love that ao3 tried to find things relating to that to turn it into an official tag), (bless you for trying but it's not going to happen), Alternate Universe, Arcades, Art, Digital Art, M/M, Remix, Stucky Remix 2020, eyes that are not so much windows to the soul as windows to the deepest depths of hell, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23773882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EachPeachPearPlum/pseuds/EachPeachPearPlum
Summary: Nick has no idea how the game came to be outside SHIELD Games. It wasn’t there when he locked up last night, but then this morning, there it is, sitting on the sidewalk outside the door.Or: a new arcade game shows up on the doorstep of SHIELD Games with no explanation. It only gets weirder after that.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Peach’s BBB 2020 works, Stucky Remix 2020





	Insert Coin to Start (the Arcade Cabinet Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gaia_bing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The arcade cabinet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12297144) by [Gaia_bing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing). 



> Why, brain, do you keep deciding that art is the way to go? Stick to fic, for goodness sake, because tracing and colouring in is the limit of your skill and even then you're fairly naff at it.
> 
> But anyway, thank you to Gaia_bing for donating a fic to the Stucky remix pot, and I am sorry that this is what you ended up with.
> 
> Also thank you to G, who provided encouragement in the following form: "I also really like Bucky's face, even if his eyes are voids."
> 
> Dear viewers, you have been warned...
> 
> If you want to understand what's happening in the words, please read the work this is a remix of first (however no prior knowledge is required If you're just here to laugh at my mad art skillz).
> 
> And now that I can say who I am, here is the info for the Bucky Barnes bingo fill I'm using this for:
> 
> Title: Insert Coin to Start (the Arcade Cabinet Remix)  
> Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23773882  
> Square Filled: K1 - Sent to a different dimension  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Steve/Bucky  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags/Warnings: AU, arcade games, eyes like black holes  
> Summary: Nick has no idea how the game came to be outside SHIELD Games. It wasn’t there when he locked up last night, but then this morning, there it is, sitting on the sidewalk outside the door.  
> Or: a new arcade game shows up on the doorstep of SHIELD Games with no explanation. It only gets weirder after that.  
> Word Count: 442 + two ‘art’works

Nick has no idea how the game came to be outside SHIELD Games. It wasn’t there when he locked up last night, but then this morning, there it is, sitting on the sidewalk outside the door.

The camera that covers the street is occasionally a little glitchy - hell, all of their cameras are a little glitchy, but it’s a video game arcade, it’s not like anyone is breaking in - though it never skips more than thirty seconds at a time, and Nick has checked it anyway. Aside from a few seconds here and there, there’s no missing time, and the few blank spots aren’t long enough for anyone to have to have hauled an arcade game into view and then cleared off without being caught on tape.

Still, he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so Nick just waits until the kid who works the morning shift shows up (half an hour late, as per usual, but he’s Maria’s nephew and she has this incredible ability to talk Nick into giving him an infinite number of  _ one-last-chance _ s) and has him help drag the thing inside.

They get the thing into a corner and plugged in, and Nick bullies it into powering up, digging a handful of quarters out of his pocket.

The game starts up, and Nick gives it just enough attention to see a man in a mask climb out of a chair and begin arming himself. Since the thing hasn’t eaten his coins, and the character on the screen moves when he wiggles the joysticks and shoots when he hits the appropriate buttons, Nick figures it works well enough.

It’s functional, it’s not going to get kids yelling at him because they’re putting money in and it’s not letting them play, and other than that Nick really doesn’t give a damn.

Fucking thing is contrary piece of shit sometimes, but it’s also free, and Nick’s sticking with his policy about leaving a gift horse’s teeth the fuck alone.

Then there’s the morning Nick gets to work and the contrary piece of shit has gone from being a menacing black and grey to a vibrant blue and red. The masked, heavily armed man on the cabinet is still heavily armed, but he’s no longer masked, and he’s not alone anymore.

There’s a man in blue with him, in front of him, shielding him from harm..

It’s goddamn fucking weird, is what it is, but, hey, it still works, and the kids seem to like it a hell of a lot more now that the heavily armed guy is living happily ever after than they did before.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at [dreaminglypeach](https://dreaminglypeach.tumblr.com/), where I would love to talk to you, whoever you may be x


End file.
